Top Ten Post #1

As I ended my post about recipe number 300, I said how my mom asked what my top 10 recipes are.  That's hard to tell, but I am going to blog my way through my top ten.  They are not in any particular order (at least not yet).

One of our favorite Chinese appetizers is crab rangoon.  A really gross, late night Chinese restaurant in College Park is where we first ate them.  Then it was discovered that our favorite Chinese restaurant, that I mentioned previously in a post, made THE BEST crab rangoon.  Although, one day that fabulous crab rangoon changed and was never again the same...maybe that's why they closed down?!  They did make a lot of money off of us ordering way too many crab rangoon(s?)...

One day on Pinterest, I found a Weight Watcher's recipe for crab rangoon. We tried it and were impressed.  I have made many modifications to the recipe and it is pretty darn close to the wonderful ones we would stuff our faces with in college.

My Baked Crab Rangoon

 Ingredients:

• 6 oz of 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese 
• 1 stick of imitation crab meat
• 1 Tbsp. of sugar
• 1/8 tsp of garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. of worcestershire sauce
• 2-3 green onions, finely chopped
• 16 wonton wrappers

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.  I always individually bag and freeze the imitation crab meat sticks.  Whenever I make crab rangoon I soften the cream cheese and the crab meat by heating it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Then I dice the crab meat.  I mix in the ingredients one at a time.  

I frequently make these for lunch so I don't really measure ever.  Measurements for me are 8 shakes of this, a good sprinkle of that but I the measurements are what I toss in.  I have tried this recipe with regular cream cheese and various amounts of sugar and garlic salt, but these measurements result in my favorite ratio.

I have a race with the oven and can always have these ready to go in the oven as soon as it's preheated.  I spray the cookie sheet.  Then lay out the wonton wrappers and put about a tablespoon of the filling on each wrapper.

 I wet the edges of wrappers and fold up opposite corners.

I bake them for about 10 minutes, until they are golden brown.  They are hard to resist long enough to let them cool...

French Baguette

Whenever I discuss my bakery and all of the scrumptious things it would have, my husband always informs that I need to bake bread.  Our town could use a place with really good bread.  My husband is from New Jersey so he has very high expectations for bread, especially bagels.

Anyway...about two years ago I decided I better attempt to bake bread.  We have a bread machine that my husband would even use in his college dorm to make honey wheat bread.  Aside from that, I'd never baked bread before. After a quick Google search, I decided I would go for Allrecipe's posting for French Baguette. This recipe was quite easy and quick that it has become my go-to recipe for baguettes.  

My mom invited us for dinner tonight and requested this bread.  I was more than happy to comply. An hour and a half later I had two great tasting, fluffy, warm, and fresh baguettes.  

My Adaptions to the Recipe:

Instead of using the bread machine, I let the water and yeast sit for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy in the bowl for my mixer. Then I add all of the other ingredients and knead for about 5 minutes using my KitchenAid dough hook. 

I follow the remaining directions, but I substitute the egg wash by brushing milk on top of the dough before it bakes.  Then I sprinkle it with sea salt.

I know I have much to do in the way of bread making, but this recipe was a good place to start!